KLRU chooses three programs each month for your family to enjoy and view together. In August 2014, we have the following lined up:

Wednesday, August 6, 7pm: The My Wild Affair series continues in August with “The Seal Who Came Home.” The true story of Andre, a two-day-old wild harbor seal who, in 1961, was rescued from certain death by Harry Goodridge, an arborist from Rockport, Maine. Over the next 25 years, Andre and Harry established a friendship that brought Andre into the world of humans without Andre’s ever having to sacrifice his wildness. The human world gave Andre shelter during the harsh New England winter, but staying wild at heart meant Andre had the know-how to make the 200-mile swim home to Rockport. This interspecies friendship weathered every kind of challenge, including, at the end, Andre’s blindness.

Wednesday, August 13, 7pm: NATURE’s Snow Monkeys. We are bringing this very popular episode back in the heat of summer to give us all a break and remind us that the cold weather brings challenges, too.

Wednesday, August 20, 7pm:My Wild Affairwraps up with an overview of the extraordinary stories and connections between undomesticated animals and human beings.

On the evening of April 30, KLRU unveiled several new playground games, one of our design and two from the fertile minds of the Connally HS (Pflugerville ISD) Advanced Game Design Class. “Order Up!/A La Orden” asked kids to work with each other and adults to build menu choices that met requirements for price, food groups, caloric content, protein, and distance from farm to table. “Story Safari” had kids scaling The Thinkery’s Backyard to find and recreate story elements nabbed by a pesky monkey. And “Last Animal Standing” had kids play the role of animals who had to both cooperate and compete to obtain a limited food supply. The game designers were hoping to spark complex thinking and real-world connections; these games will be sent to PBS Kids national for use in promoting the new PBS Kids Virtual World this fall, where similar themes will be explored.
Thanks to The Thinkery and the Texas Book Festival for their collaborative efforts! ¡Que vivan los niños!

To celebrate this year’s 100th Day of School, KLRU-TV, Austin PBS, hosted a Peg + Cat-themed special event at Uphaus EC Center, Perez Elementary and Widen Elementary on February 5 and February 10, 2014. Through this initiative, KLRU awarded each campus a media lab that included an assortment of educational materials, games, activities, a Kindle Fire to access PBS digital content on, and a PEG + CAT hop-scotch rug. The multimedia content includes video clips, digital and hands-on games and activities, and tools to connect home and school. These resources are available at pbskids.org/learn. In all, over 355 children and 32 adults participated.

These three Dove Springs public school campuses were selected in part because the Onion Creek floods of this winter had affected them and their families. Each campus dedicated time in the library and in the classroom for their 1st grade or Kindergarten classes to rotate through a series of centers themed around the number 100 — jumping 100 times using hula hoops, making bracelets by counting beads by groups of 10, playing a Peg + Cat pizza game, playing the Peg + Cat app, watch Peg + Cat video clips. Each child was also able to share with their family more fun activities by taking home the Peg + Cat activity sheet. All campuses were delighted with the 100th Day Celebration and plan on scheduling it again next school year!

KLRU Educational Services will be on hand for two events connected to the Texas Book Festival. The first, a joint presentation by the Texas Book Festival, KLRU, and the AISD Department of Communications and Community Engagement is a book reading and signing by the bilingual children’s author Yuyi Morales, who was profiled by PBS and regularly has a spot airing during the PBS Kids block (which you can see here). The book signing will take place at Mathews Elementary, 906 West Lynn, on Friday, October 25, from 4-5 pm.

The second event will be our three-hour appearance at the Texas Book Festival itself, on Sunday, October 27, from 12 noon – 3 pm. We will be at the Children’s Activity Tent (on Colorado St. between 12th & 13th) with our iPads loaded with learning apps and with none other than Clifford the Big Red Dog.

Now, what gets lost in these changes? Because we have no new episodes for Maya & Miguel or for Barney, and because of a slowdown of production for Electric Company, we have currently dropped them from the daily lineup. We especially feel the loss of Electric Company because it’s popular for older kids, so we are hoping that we can build up a bank of new episodes for airing later in the school year. In the meantime, all of these shows can be accessed online.

If you have questions or comments on the new lineup, please contact Benjamin Kramer, Director of Educational Services. We hope you enjoy these changes!

This video spot highlights a visit by Dell volunteers who got to hear from the kids as they talked about the various ways the computers have been used to further their learning during out-of-school time. Moreover, they had a chance to play games and talk about new options together.

The event was so successful that on June 28, we’ll hold a Create-A-Thon, in which 30 Dell volunteers will come together with kids at the Brentwood Summer Extend-A-Care program for a half-day burst of creativity. Teams of kids and adults will use the laptops to shoot and edit movies, create written projects, slideshows, e-books, and video games!

KLRU-TV is thankful for the support and collaborative spirit from Dell and Extend-A-Care. Together, we are enriching kids’ out-of-school time.

ALL AGES ARE WELCOME, BUT CHILDREN MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A PARENT. PLEASE RESERVE ONLY THE SEATS YOU EXPECT TO USE, AND RESERVE ENOUGH SEATS FOR ALL ATTENDEES, REGARDLESS OF AGE. ALL UNCLAIMED SEATS WILL BE RELEASED TO THE WAITING LIST AT 9:30 AM.

On January 1, 2014 a new GED test will take effect. People who have already started the GED process,must pass all five segments before January 1, 2014 or will have to start all segments over. Those thinking about taking the GED soon, must start now in order to complete all tests before January 1, 2014.

In an effort to assist our community with this process, KLRU will air GED Connections starting January 7th. Engaging documentary-style videos introduce content and give learners a chance to hear from experts in various fields and advance toward their GED with programs covering each test area. Students hear and see how the skills they are learning for the GED exam relate to work, home and community life. GED Connections will air on KLRU at 5:30 am Monday to Friday and on KLRU Q 2:30 pm Monday to Friday.

If you need more assistance than the television show can provide there are several options in the KLRU viewing area.

Austin Community College’s Adult Education Division provides a variety of services and programs to help adult learners meet their education and career goals. Adult Education offers GED preparation, English as a Second Language classes, workforce certification programs, courses to ease the transition to college, and more. For more information, visit austincc.edu/abe or call (512) 223.5300

Community Action, Inc. of Central Texas’ Adult Education Program provides a wide array of adult education services across a ten county area surrounding Austin. These services include classes for GED preparation, English as a second language, English Literacy and Civics, college and workforce readiness, and basic skills improvement. For more information, visit communityaction.com or call (512) 392-1161 extension 334